georges1

That is what I call a nice bike filled garage

Eric F 

The Trek-owned shop in my area has a sign out front..."We will work on any bike".

Talking with the owner of the LBS that has been a Trek dealer for decades, he said that Trek has - historically - been excellent with their dealers. From what I have heard from others in the industry, the same cannot be said about Specailized. I also learned that Trek's decision to open a corporate shop had to do with the belief that there was market share not being captured by the LBS. The LBS owner feels like he got punched in the gut.

Eric F 

Marco didn't die from the race drugs. He died from a cocaine overdose.

genejockey 

IIRC, there were some Dutch riders who DID die from Epo - blood too thick to pump properly when they were asleep or something.

But I DID read that Pantani had to sleep with an HRM set to alarm if his HR dropped too low, so he could get up and raise it on a trainer in his bedroom, so he wouldn't stroke out from having pudding for blood.

Eric F 

I have read/heard the same.

genejockey 

I think people revere Pantani as a tortured soul, but Lance is just an A-hole.

Eric F 

Generally speaking, that seems to be the case.

Koyote

Okay.

Perhaps you are looking for some less-than-common parts; did you ever ask if they would order them for you?

Nothing in your response seems to justify the claim, below, that somehow the Trek company stores are useless to people who own other brands.

And I'll bet that they would indeed work on your '83 Trek.

Trakhak

The story is actually even better than that. After the story of Specialized going after the Montreal bike shop over the Roubaix name hit the news, Fuji's management pointed out to Specialized that Fuji had had a Roubaix bike model in their lineup before Specialized started using the name. That was the main reason that Specialized backed off.

I wondered at the time whether the Fuji guys were tempted to permit the Montreal bike shop to continue using the name but issue a cease-and-desist letter to Specialized, just for the fun of it.

prj71

Trek makes a good bike. I have two of them. I could give two ***** about something in the past.

Trsnrtr

Yep. Pic taken last February:



That's two relatively new Émonda SLR 7s hanging outside my door in Arizona.

50PlusCycling

This is another complaint of mine. My nearest bike store is run by Trek, and pretty much everything they sell is branded “Trek” or “Bontrager.” For the 98% of people in the area who don’t ride Trek bikes, they don’t have much to offer.

NumbersGuy

I’m just curious, do you also expect to go to your local Apple Store to find a selection of Microsoft, Samsung and Google products?

Sure an electronics store would carry products from all those brands, just like an independent bike shop carries products from a variety of brands. When a company operates their own retail store, it is intended to sell their products. I don’t understand why people think that for some reason these companies should want to sell you their competitors’ products. As has already been said here multiple times, they are almost always happy to service your bike regardless of brand. Taking up inventory space with a mishmash of older parts is one of the reasons why a lot of independent bike shops fail and/or sell out to a manufacturer. A lot of them are passionate about bikes but not very good at business so they’re not profitable enough to sustain themselves long term.

Atlas Shrugged

I have the same problem as Fiat is the nearest car dealership to me and never have the AMC Gremlin parts when I need them. I don’t know anyone who drives a Fiat so what the point of them being there.

PeteHski

If Trek is only serving 2% of your local riders then there must be another store nearby. If not then it’s not really Trek’s fault.

veganbikes

I am saying doping is wrong but it's not true? OK, I find it to be wrong but I guess you find it to be OK yet you have an issue with it or something. I cannot get a read on you here.

Yes I am aware doping has been illegal but at that time it was not frowned upon and 87% of the pro peloton was doing it. Again it was not right but the fact is that he did at that time win if you are denying that fact what else are you going to deny that is in the history books? Look he had the points and came in first enough to win the TDF 7 times it is not like he was the lantern rouge and paid off the commissars and stuff to get made the winner, he rode those miles doped up with the rest of the peloton to those wins that were stripped from him 7 years later. Facts are facts.

They were retroactively applied he won from 1999-2005 he was stripped in 2012 by the USADA and then agreed on by the UCI so again 7 years. They weren't enforced in 1999-2005 otherwise he wouldn't have initially won. It is kind of crazy that so many people in the pro peloton at that time were doping and it took so long for them to catch on. Obviously yes some investigations take time and Rome wasn't built in a day but sheesh you would think all the doping which was pretty rampant at that time would have been caught sooner. People kept accusing him during that time but he was never investigated. Seems odd, no.

So you are calling me an apologist for...nothing. I DON'T RIDE TREK, I DON'T LIKE TREK so what am I apologizing for? You cannot even answer that! If you have seen my posts when Trek is mentioned I am quite clear in my dislike of them, if you talk to me in person you will know I don't like Trek so I am unsure if you are getting me mixed up with someone else or you are truly that clueless because I do not like Trek.

They took out some good shops near me and have done a lot of bad things including what I agreed to in their treatment of Lemond. If you somehow think that me saying was me supporting Trek you have some poor reading comprehension.

You could also go to my first post in the thread and it was not pleasant towards Trek so I am baffled where you get this Trek apologist thing? I mean you really don't know me well if you think I have a shred of like for the Trek corporation. I can write you a list of things I don't like about Trek if you are so desirous

*was "but" in the original post and I missed that it should be "by"

veganbikes

Agreed there. He was a total a-hole and very aggressive. The whole period of time was quite suspect lots of bad things going on. It is a real shame what L.A. did to everyone to the sport but he did keep himself relevant because he is consistently being brought up over and over again.

50PlusCycling

A better analogy would be that there is a shop which sells only AMC Gremlins and Gremlin-branded parts, and as this is Tokyo, there aren’t so many people interested in buying Gremlins or Gremlin parts. So, if you want a bike jersey, a jacket, a light, or a bag, it will say “Gremlin” or have a “Gremlin” logo on it.

wheelreason

And how much was the dollar amount of that sale?

rsbob 

Don’t see many references to the H.M.S. Pinafore.

genejockey 

That's because you don't live in my house.

"What, never?" figured prominently in my courtship of Not-Yet-Mrs GeneJockey

downtube42

I've probably been to the same Trek store in Portland. It's weird (to me) walking in there; it feels like a sterile showroom manned by a slick salesman. My takeaway is their business model is high dollar high margin sales. They sell some consumables, but I think they've pretty much accepted that most people are buying consumables online. Which we mostly are.

The other Trek store in town, also a buyout of a LBS, is where I bought my last new bike, a Domane. It was a reasonable purchase experience. A week later, my sales guy didn't recognize me, and when I took it in for the tune-up, the mechanic (who was also the salesman) screwed the FD up royally. I'm sure they'd work on any bike, but I won't be taking my bike back.

Having said that, I do not begrudge Trek stores their business model. This post brick and mortar, post pandemic reality is a different world. If they keep a store operating selling Madones to dentists, well okay.

The LA/GL Trek boondogle was, IMO, the work of amoral individuals at Trek who saw LA as a cash cow, an amoral LA and other amoral enablers, all of whom saw GL as an annoying pest and they collectively squashed him.

I've spent a career in corporations, and I can't count the greedy amoral people I've encountered on all my fingers and toes. I don't know which comes first, being amoral or being promoted, but there's a connection. I categorically reject the notion that individuals behaving amorally is acceptable even if it's good for business. I'm currently operating my organization under regulatory scrutiny for safety that, on the surface, seems unnecessarily intrusive. But knowing how people are willing to behave under the cover of incorporation, it's more than necessary. It's critical.

VW? Pffffft. They got caught, that's all that sets them apart. More companies need to be caught and pay until it hurts every single stakeholder.

downtube42

and until the amoral b******s who get big fat profit shares from their deeds are personally hurt when the truth comes out, it's not going to stop. A $1B corporate fine means nothing to the individuals who took home nice fat paychecks and profit shares.

/rant

indyfabz

I wonder if anyone who spent their career in corporations is going to give away their “blood money.”

downtube42

Not me. I honestly toiled away at corporations, wholesomely contributing my part enriching stakeholders. Heck I spent a year honestly leading a team of morally sound software developers creating logic that helped corporations maximize employee hours whilst minimizing payroll. I did walk away from that job, but no I'm not giving my blood money away.